Back on February 16, I took a look at what I believed the 25-man roster would be come Opening Day. Here we are over a month later, and while the Dodgers are 2-0 after winning in Australia, they can still tweak their official roster before next Sunday in San Diego.
Once again, here's my look at my best guess who those 25 men will be.
Rotation:
Clayton Kershaw
Zack Greinke
Hyun-Jin Ryu
Dan Haren
Paul Maholm
Bullpen:
Kenley Jansen
Brian Wilson
Jamey Wright
J.P. Howell
Paco Rodriguez
Chris Perez
Chris Withrow
Brandon League
Starters:
A.J. Ellis
Adrian Gonzalez
Dee Gordon
Hanley Ramirez
Juan Uribe
Carl Crawford
Andre Ethier
Yasiel Puig
Bench:
Tim Federowicz
Scott Van Slyke
Justin Turner
Chone Figgins
15-day DL:
Matt Kemp
Josh Beckett
Chad Billingsley
Who's In: Chris Withrow, Chone Figgins
Who's Out: Alex Guerrero, Josh Beckett
Analysis:
Not a whole lot has changed since my first look. One change had to be Beckett getting placed on the DL, as I had him in the rotation originally. That bumps Maholm up to the rotation, though with the way off days go in early April, who knows if he'll even need to make a start.
Rather than Guerrero starting at second, I really do think he'll end up at Triple-A Albuquerque, while Gordon starts against right-handed pitchers, and Turner against left-handers. Gordon certainly earned more starts with his electric second game, gathering three hits and scoring twice.
Another reason I believe Guerrero will get some seasoning in the minors is because of the continuing transition to second base. As Gordon showed in his start, while he was very good at the plate, he also had an error and failed to cover second on an easy double play ball, which are exactly the types of problems Guerrero has experienced this spring. Let him start everyday at the highest level of the minors, get repetition in the field and at the plate, and look back in about a month and see where he's at. It's a win-win for everyone.
Of the relievers missing out, I don't see Jose Dominguez or Seth Rosin being in LA. Dominguez did himself absolutely no favors with his horrendous outing in the second game. Rosin loses out to the numbers game. So yes, I see League still getting his shot because of his bloated contract, albeit at the very end of the 'pen, at least we can hope.
Figgins has earned his way due to his versatility and veteran presence. I'm not totally sure how the backup catcher role will go, but it's not too big of a deal because Ellis starts practically every game anyway.
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